Post Whole30: Lessons & Experience

FREEDOM. This word takes on quite a few meanings post-Whole30. I’m free again to eat cheese and pizza and cookies and candy and all of the goodness I’ve had to turn away from this past month. But I’ve been living in more food freedom than I’ve had for most of my life – I’ve learned about how good my body can feel when it gets fed colorful fruits, veggies, and protein.

I can’t say I was 100% perfect with this. I made a few missteps, got caught by secret ingredients, but grace upon GRACE. While I pull this phrase from church, I believe that it relates heavily to Whole30. Scrolling through a post online about Whole30 will always have comments saying, “you’ve got to start over!” Come on, people of the internet, I’m not starting again on day one if I did Communion at church or accidentally ate something with a non-compliant oil. If you do, you’ve got a lot more self-discipline than I do.

Here are a few things I learned this month:

You can make most things good by cooking them in the oven with olive oil and spiced grabbed at random.

Some cuisines are easier than others to order on Whole30.

You don’t (always) miss the cheese or tortilla strips in the chicken tortilla soup.

I’ve taken a second look at what I actually want to eat. On Friday someone brought donuts that smelled so dang good that I (obviously) couldn’t eat. When speaking with my friend Alex who is doing Whole30 alongside me, we discussed how donuts rarely taste as good as I think they do.

The fridge looks better when it is full of colorful fruits and veggies.

It’s hard to be a (mostly) vegetarian and do Whole30. As much as I tried, I had to incorporate meats and fish into my diet because I just couldn’t feel full without them. I learned more about how to cook them in new and interesting ways, but will cut back again now that I’m done.

Some swaps are better than others. Moving forward, I’m hoping to switch (at least in my own home) to condiments that are as sugar-free as possible, like this ketchup. I, however, am not going to switch 100% to zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. They ain’t the same, folks.

Whole30 is better with a community (or at least community support). I have two friends at work who are doing Whole30 alongside me and we’re consistently swapping recipes, struggles, and wins.

Chopping veggies is therapeutic.

Here are a few things that helped me survive this month:

I have to end with an ode to coffee. While I didn’t need as much coffee because my energy levels were/are higher, I loved being able to have something stable in my morning routine. Granted I drink black coffee and didn’t have to cut anything out, I still loved being able to indulge in the crappy coffee in my office’s kitchen (it’s free, no complaints).✌🏻out, Whole30!